Must needs

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:47 PM -0500 1/16/08, Wilson Gray wrote:
>  Re:"Needs must when the devil drives."
>
>Who? Barbara? What? I don't get it.
>
>-Wilson

By the way, there's a nice mini-entry by Michael Quinion on the above
expression at http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-nee1.htm.   Seat
belts are probably a good idea under the same circumstances, but no
relevant proverb exists for that.

LH

>
>On Jan 16, 2008 6:53 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: Must needs
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  At 3:36 PM -0800 1/16/08, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>>  >Must needs was used by Mahatma Gandhi.
>>  >
>>  >One must needs be as humble as the dust. (Citation from
>>  >http://www.writespirit.net/sri_chinmoy/books-by-sri-chinmoy/mahatma-gandhi-the-heart-of-life/mahatma-gandhi-by-sri-chinmoy)
>>  >
>>  >I remember not being able to parse this in high school but finding that
>>  >other people had not problem. BB
>>  >
>>  >------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>  and then there "needs must", as in "Needs must when the devil drives".
>>
>>  LH
>>
>>
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>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>
>
>
>--
>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-----
>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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